The V O I D Architecture:

More than just Emptiness

A dissertation presented to the School of Architecture, Oxford Brookes

University in part fulfilment of the regulations for BA (Hons) in
Architecture.
Statement of Originality
This dissertation is an original piece of work which is made available
for copying with permission of the Head of the School of Architecture.
Signed

Adrian Hong Sheng-Jie

Questioning the state of absence in

architectural design.

Adrian Hong Sheng Jie

13090369

Acknowledgement
I am sincerely thankful to my supervisor, Christina
Godiksen for her time, commitment and support
through the entire process of research.

Contents

01

Preface

10-13

02

Questions of Void

14-15

03

Contemplating the Void

16-23

04

The City Around Us

24-31

05

Void & Architecture

32-41

06

Trs Grande Bibliothque

42-55

07

Designing the Absence

56-63

08

Bibliography

64-67

09

Illustrations

68-71

Space (noun):
[Mass Noun]
1.0 A continuous area or expense which is free, available or unoccupied.
1.1 [Count Noun] An area of land which is not occupied by buildings.
2.0 The dimensions of height, depth, and width within which all things
exist and move.
Void (noun):
1.0: A completely empty space: the black void of space
1.1: An unfilled space in a wall, building, or other structure
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/space
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/void
10

01

Preface

Mens desire for shelter and comfort since the Palaeolithic age
has led to the inhabitation of caves as dwellings. It is the beginning of
mens interaction with void and architecture. This tradition has since
been refined repeatedly, from simple blocks or geometry to the refined
architectural details of today. (Rasmussen, 1964) In fact, voids are
essential to architecture, from cities, your home or workplace, in which
without, architecture would cease to emerge.

Imagine that if required a house, materials are formed and
arranged into architectural elements of roofs, walls and window. It is
understandable that an architects duty is to give the material he works
with the form of structure. However, it can be said that the void space
within the structure is what he truly intends to create. With which the
physical structure is a tool to contain the space. In essence, is it not the void
that is architecture? (Rasmussen, 1964) Given that, voids in architecture
are seen as a negative element, the absence of the architecture itself.
It is not my intention to state what architecture truly is or isnt. This
dissertation is primarily written in questioning the state of the absence
in architectural design. By extension, it is the embracement of void in
architecture.

The dissertation begins with underlining the definition of void.
Here, void is presented in the fields of art and literature. Through a
psychological perspective, the qualities of the absence are also presented
in its abstract and physical manner. This chapter is crucial in qualifying
the type of void discussed within the dissertation.

11


Further on in the second chapter, void is further described in
the context of urban architecture. How can absences in a city be utilized
in initiating architecture? Absences in the metropolis are represented
in the forms of the Berlin Wall, Rotterdam Central and the London
Underground. Absences here are beyond just emptiness. They allow the
possibility for things to happen. A medium of architecture.

Chapter three is a collective study of architectural pieces: St.
Pauls Square, St. Pauls Basilica, the Guggenheim Museum and the
Barcelona Pavilion. Each of this architecture shows voids at its core,
necessary to the architecture. In this chapter, the importance is in the
relationship between voids and solids to architecture. The utilization of
the absence results in the realization of architecture. Here, two distinct
kinds of architecture are introduced: the visual and the abstract.

The subsequent chapter revolves around a case study of the
Tres Grande Bibliotheque (TGB) by Office of Metropolitan Architecture
(OMA) and its winning entry by Dominique Perrault Architects.
The two proposals are key examples in the integration of void in
architectural design. Solids define voids. But in this case, the absence
defines the physical. In this comparison of architecture, we see the result
of designing with absence.

Lastly, the dissertation ends by investigating the process of
designing the absence. Architectural drawings are fundamental in
architectural design. We draw lines; solids. Do architects then design
voids? And if so, how? In designing architecture, one must possess the
knowledge of both the solids and the voids.

12

13

02

Questions of Void

1.0 What is void?

1.1 Is void just absence?
1.2 What are the qualities of void?
1.3 Does void exist in other forms?
2.0 Is void present in the urban context?
2.1 What are the examples of urban absences?
2.2 What is the role of the absence in urban development?
3.0 What is the relation of void and architecture?
3.1 How are voids enclosed and defined?
3.2 If enclosed, is the void the same entity as the endless void around?
3.3 Does partial enclosure of the absence exist?
3.4 What are the relation of void and mass?
3.5 Less solid, more void?
3.6 How does void define architecture?
4.0 How is architecture designed with void?
4.1 How are the qualities of the absence manifested in the architecture?
4.2 Solids define void. Does void define solids?
4.3 Is void the essence of architecture?

14

5.0 Do architects design void?

5.1 If no, do they design solids?
5.2 If yes, how do you design voids?
5.3 How are the qualities of void defined?
5.4 How are voids represented in architectural drawings?
5.5 What is the relationship of architectural drawing and the absence?
5.6 What is the role of the absence in architectural design?

15

16

03

Contemplating the Void

Architecture is the thoughtful making of space Louis Khan

(Mendelsohn, Matisse and Kahn, et.al, 1957, p.2-3)
The purpose of architecture is to create space Hendrik Petrus Berlage
(Berlage and Whyte, 1996,p. 209)

Space is no stranger to us. Architects and architecture
students use the word space to describe atmospheric qualities of
their architecture. Nonetheless, this word is not reserved only to those
practiced in the art of building but also to the general public. Lets go to
a bright space. Lets go to an open space. Linguistically, the word space
often comes after an adjective describing the atmospheric qualities of an
area. Strip down the adjectives, the word is often used as such: I dont
have enough space in my room. The word now refers to a dimensional
space in which it is empty. By definition of the word void in Oxford
Dictionaries, the word means a completely empty space and an unfilled
space. Thus, void is a space.

However, rarely have architects and architectural theorists
made any mention in particular about voids. Not because it is unknown
to these intellectuals. Architecturally, space is a more dynamic word.
The word consists of a multitude of terms: negative space, positive space,
open space, closed space, social space, private space and et cetera. While
void space is empty space, such emptiness could not be possible to be
experienced without the existence of solid space. Alongside it, void

17

spaces are often attached a utility or a function for example, social or

private. Hence, it is called to as social and private spaces. Space referred
to by architects is a collective whole of spaces. In this dissertation, the
focus is on a specific space within architecture, the void empty space. It
would be worth clarifying should the word space be mentioned in the
dissertation, it should refer to the void.

While void is emptiness, it also means devoid of or a negation
of fullness. It is true that void is non-physical; a negation of matter.
Otherwise, it can also be taken quite literally a negation in the abstract.
Take for example the negation of thought. Void itself is abstract, making
it only perceptible to the mind. Because of this quality that it has often
found its way into the field of art and literature.

Few writers can escape the awareness in the very nature of their
vocation that obliges them to the interaction with the absence. The very
blank page that they fill up page after page with their texts is after all, one
of the representations of voids. (Ashton, 2007)

The writers relationship with the absence stretches on further.
The very spark of creativity sends the writer towards an encounter with
the void in him or herself. It is the essential, the necessity for anything
to come into being at all. Whatever the outcome, great or small is bound
to be recapitulated in his or her mind, often in conversation with him or
herself, that fiat: Let there be light. This is the trigger in the dynamics
of creativity itself, the way in which all forms of creativity are mimetic of
the Genesis myth. (Ashton, 2007)

In that sense, I am also somewhat a writer. These texts convey
my confrontation with the absence. I am questioning and answering
the thoughts inside me. Notice also where each character of my word is
carefully placed, filling the page. I write as a writer would, but this space
knows no regulations or standards, all but to the will of the writer. I
write, I leave gaps b e t w e e n m y w o r d s, allowing the absence to flow
through the letters.1

I write across
Georges Perec demonstrated the play of text through the pages in a chapter entitled The
Page in Species of Spaces and Other Pieces.
1

18

I set off blanks, spaces on the page.

I write beyond the pape

the page.

19


This emptiness knows no boundaries apart from the restrictions
of the paper. Before, there was nothing, now; there is presence of words.
Voids within each of us represented through characters onto the void
of paper. So, too, is the emptiness that reveals itself inside the poet or
writer when a work completed, finds himself confronting the emptiness
within him. But the writers acquaintance with the void goes beyond
this. (Ashton, 2007)

The 20th-century French writer and anthropologist, Michel
Leiris once poses a question in his famous essay in autobiography,
Manhood: To whom does one write save someone absent? (Leiris,
1992, p.105) He goes on to stress the rhetorical nature of his question:
I am imbued with the notion that the Muse is necessarily a dead woman,
inaccessible or lost; that the poetic structure like a canon, which is only
a hole surrounded by steel can be based only on what one does not
have; and that ultimately one can write only to fill a void or at least to
situate, in relation to the most lucid part of ourselves, the place where the
incommensurable abyss yawns within us. (Leiris, 1992, p.105)

What is mentioned is true in the nature of literature. Those that
write do not convince who is to read. I do not know of who would read
this dissertation. Many at times are we to compose words onto paper.
Rather than an audience, it is meant to be an expression of our thoughts
and ideas; an answer to the absence within ourselves.

This culture of questioning and answering the absence is in the
nature of literature itself. Literature has been occupied by absence and
melancholy of loss and longing. (Ashton, 2007) In a fragment from the
Ionian poet, Sappho, dating from the 6th century B.C.E., we begin to
notice a repetition of the tradition passed down through times:

The moon slides west,

It is midnight

The time is gone
I lie alone.

20

Figure 01: Void: A Retrospective in the Centre Pompidou

Figure 02: Void: A Retrospective in the Centre Pompidou
Figure 03: Void: A Retrospective in the Kunsthalle Bern

21


There would seem to be no reason why writers should have a
privileged relationship with the absence. The evidence of void in other
forms is a testimony implicit in the works of modern artists. In 2009,
a radical art exhibition called Void: A Retrospective was held in the
Centre Pompidou in Paris and in the Kunsthalle Bern. This retrospective
of voids featured works by prominent artists and art historians
amongst them, the famous of all, Yves Klein. As in exhibitions, works of
art expected to be exhibited within the galleries. Instead, the visitors
have been startled upon the confrontation of bare empty spaces. The
exhibition fills, or fails to fill, almost a dozen rooms in the French
National Museum of Modern Art on the fourth floor of the Pompidou.
Although, this is the exhibition of the emptiness. In fact, its significance
lies in the play of absence and presence. The concrete presence of artistic
propositions that have been set by galleries, museums or publications,
works of art, which are here evoked. Here, beholders are confronted
with the nothingness of the otherwise rich and filled gallery spaces.

Admittedly, the very notion of void art may seem to some like a
contradiction. After all, we routinely refer to the fine arts, visual arts.
Works of art valued at their aesthetics which are perceived through sight.
Against cultural presumptions, these artists have chosen to produce arts
underlining the conceptual and abstract possibilities of the absence.

American composer John Cage once constructed the famous
piece 433. For four minutes and 33 seconds, the audience are left in
a silent auditorium listening to the performance. Contrary to nothing
being played, the composition purports to consist of the sounds of the
environment. In such an occasion it is similar to the exhibition of void.
Absences here show not the emptiness but the experience of what is full.

Not least in the 21st century, this emptiness is ever more
consistently portrayed in works of art and literature. Fields not confined
to phenomenology and metaphysics have all been dedicated into the
study of the absence. Void is more than just emptiness. It is in no doubt
that architecture now too embraces the void.

22

Figure 04: 433 by John Cage

23

Figure 05: Nolli map of St Peters Basilica, Rome

24

04

The City Around Us

Much like everything else, the existence of cities is built on
voids. Vast barren landscapes once cover the riverbanks, the desert and
the islands. Now, they are populated with concrete, stone, steel, bricks
and mortar. Roads, pavements, squares are absences that remain in the
physical matter of the city. They become the designated absences within
the solid city block we now travel through. Public and private spaces
now defined. We are bound by the void we defined. Not so much is the
responsibility fallen to the architect as to the urban planners in shaping
the city we affiliate with today. In the hands of these individuals, a whole
city becomes their paper.

Notion of urban planning in medieval times are often decided
by architects. In hope that people who dwells with the creation of
voids expand their knowledge beyond architectural structures. We are
provided a glimpse of that understanding of void through the works of
the Italian architect and surveyor, Giambattista Nolli. Nolli is known for
his ichnographic maps of 18th century Rome or better known today as
the Nolli Maps.

These maps represent built forms with blocks, shaded in a dark
poch. His work with the absence does not stop here. Apart from the
city routes, he also maps enclosed spaces such as the colonnades of St.
Peters Square as well as the Pantheon. Alluringly, the difference between
the Nolli maps and regular maps are its emphasis on the physical and the
abstract. What is solid and void is clearly demonstrated. Nolli evidently
is aware of the emptiness within the cities and its relationship to built

25

form. Today, we design architecture with relationship to the existing

context of the site. It may seem as a norm that we do today when we
draw architectural plans and urban plans. Without regard to, it is Nolli
that laid the practices and the understanding of the void in an urban
scale.

26

Berlin

Post-war Berlin, Germany has been destroyed during World
War II. First bombed by the Allies, later its territory divided during the
Cold War. It is centreless but a collection of centres which some are
voids. Huge areas of what was once a bustling early metropolis in Europe
is now left in ruins. Its inhabitants are fleeing the city and left in a state of
decay. Due to political reasons, Berlin is a region which its boundary is
forever defined. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995) Not least politically, perhaps
it is defined by its abandoned structures. Its population in decline but for
its physical substance, it cannot shrink, as well as expand a tragedy for
a city. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995)

In 1976, a design seminar led by O.M. Ungers proposes a plan
for the city of Berlin. A Green Archipelago aims to curb the decay
within the city by proposing two simultaneous but opposing actions: the
reconstruction of important areas and deconstruction of those that isnt.
In this example of urban matter and metropolitan void, the emptiness
is replaced with a network composition of urban zones, suburban zones
and green spaces. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995) This new system hopes to
bring life back into the dying city.
Figure 06: Void of the Berlin Wall
27

Rotterdam
Like Berlin, Rotterdam has been devastated by the war; it has been
voided of its centre. The void provides Rotterdam with a unique quality,
the realization of openness in scale of an entire centre. (Koolhaas and
Mau, 1995) Away from the urban blocks, it is a place where events
could take place. It is shame that that openness was threatened with
the reconstruction and densification of urban matter. They had failed
to realize the endless opportunity and freedom of the void. Only to fill
it up once again with poorly thought-out plans by individuals likely
less intellectual as Ungers. I suppose the response of architecture is in
the nature of humans to fear void and the unknown. Which is why
we build buildings, to recoil ourselves into familiarity space. A fear of
nothingness. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995)

Figure 07: The destruction of Central Rotterdam after a German aerial bombing.
28

London
Home to more than 8.6 million people is the largest metropolitan city in
Europe. Lies deep underneath its roads and pavements are the London
Underground railway network. In 2014/2015, the railway carried more
approximately 1.305 billion people. It is the major transportation for
many to commute to work, education and leisure and has very much
become an integral part of daily life. Hard it would be to imagine such
a city thriving without an intricate transportation system. Evidence you
can see in the news during the London Tube Strike.
The network has become the fabric very much as the bricks and stones
of urban matter. The absence represented in the form of the network
allows for the development of modern typologies within the city.

Figure 08: A vast Crossrail tunnel near Barnsbury, north London.

29

Void is:
Hyde Park / Central Park
London Underground
Berlin Wall
Rotterdam River Canals
Red Square, Moscow
In considering the cities, they all reveal that the absences in the metropolis
are not absence. The importance of voids lies in its relationship to the
solid. Solids define the voids and likewise voids also define the solids.
As it may be, voids represent public potential. The potential for things
to happen.

30

31

Figure 09: Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pace, Rome.

Figure 10: Porta Santo Spirit, Rome
32

05

Void & Architecture

Since the Renaissance in Italy, the notion of void has been
manifested in architecture. Architectural elements such as niches,
columns, vaulted archways can be seen from the Porta di Santo Spirito
to Porta Pia, the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, and the Santa Maria
della Pace. Huge empty voids are cut away from the stone structure to
form vaulted archways. Columns are constructed which seem to be
breaking away from the mass and protruding towards the openness.
Holes are relieved of material forming windows. During the day, the
niches form light and deep shadows, emphasizing the cylindrical
emptiness. Columns cast shadows onto stone, and the archway, a long
and deep shadow into itself. This unique composition of elements is an
amazing combination of qualities the light against the dark absences.
Protruding and recessed forms form positive and negative, convex and
concave spaces. It in itself is also void and solid. The architecture forms
a visual experience intending to emphasize to the observer a dramatic
architecture with its many contrasting qualities. (Rasmussen, 1962)

In modern times, voids are also often central to the architecture.
Rather than just a physical presence of absence, it is often utilized on its
abstract qualities. Absences are programmed and made crucial to the
architecture. Planetariums aim to create the illusion of the void of space.
Darkness fills up the space only to be broken occasionally by rays of light
through the walls. (Ahmed and Jameson, 2011) It is toneless, and at its
core, the representation of the void of space.

33


Also is the architecture of galleries and museums. While art
is the creation from void, in architecture, we design empty buildings
to house those works. Blank white walls and vast empty spaces are
designed to be neutral to the works displayed. In fact, they resonate with
the void within the art. Visiting a museum is in fact going from void to
void. (Smithson and Flam, 1996)

The qualities of architecture are largely dependent on the design
of solids. Could it be possible to achieve different kinds of architecture
through the absence? In appreciating voids, you need to appreciate the
solids.

34

St. Peters Square

Located directly in front of the Basilica is a large public plaza,
St. Peters Square. With fore mentioned in Chapter 3, the Square and
the Cathedral is essentially a void within the city. (Fig. 05) However, the
area was not as what we see today. It is worth investigating the influence
the emptiness had on the architecture. 30 years after the construction
of the Basilica, Gian Lorenzo Bernini began construction of St. Peters
Square. The requirement of area is designed so that the greatest number
of people could see the Pope give his blessing, either from the middle
of the faade of the church or from a window in the Vatican Palace
(Norwich, 1975, p.175). The function directly calls for the design of a
vast open (empty) space. Bernini subsequently gave order to the space.
Two rows of colonnade, supported by rows of four colossal columns
deep are proposed. At the centre is an Egyptian obelisk and at its two
sides are fountains.

Figure 11: St. Peters Square, Vatican City

35


It may seem at first rhetorical to design emptiness since it
in itself is an empty space. Despite that, what Bernini is attempting
is the definition of the space through solids. By doing so, he evokes a
visual spectacle through his implementation of perspective. The design
achieves through two means. The curved colonnades serve as the
container, giving the space some sort of definition. By narrowing it
towards the end of the church, it acts as guides for the visitor towards
the Cathedral. Since the purpose of the plaza is for the accommodation
of huge amount of people, it justifies its need for fewer obstructions of
solids. With a few solids, it creates an illusion of the vast open space. It is
as such that architecture is formed.

36

St. Peters Basilica

Designed primarily by Michelangelo, the cathedral too
incorporates architectural elements of the Italian Renaissance: niches,
archways, arches and columns. The faade of the church is further
designed with architectural details. Statues lined the top of the basilica.
On the inside, the niches are filled with statues. The columns and
walls are decorated with carvings. Behind the faade are huge porticos
or narthex. Portals with long naves and high barrel-vaults lead into
the chancel of the church. Marble, stone, gold and artistic treasures
decorate the interior of the church. Inside the chancel is a huge void
with an altar in the middle. At times, repuscular rays frequently flood
through the windows in the dome into the chancel below. Everything
seems to be unnecessarily up scaled in its size. In its own defence,
this weighty architecture is aimed to reflect the power and richness
of Catholicism and of Christ. Undoubtedly it is to inspire awe in
all who visits. In current matters, architecture now represents itself
not through the void space but its solid entity. Solids are designed.
On the other hand, the void acts as a mean to an end. The value
of void lies in its medium for the realization of a visual architecture.
Figure 12: Main facade of Saint Peters Basilica, Rome.
37

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

In the Guggenheim, Frank Lloyd Wright designs it by arranging
the solids around a central void. Conceived with the purpose of exhibiting
works of art, it was initially deemed unsuitable. The spiral ramps are not
suitable for works on linear canvases. But Wright has proved himself
against the contrary. Works of art has now been designed specifically
for the Guggenheim. In 2005, Daniel Buren designed an installation
specifically for the rotunda of the museum during his solo exhibition
In the Eye of the Storm. In the middle of the void space, he placed an
installation comprised of huge panes of wedged mirrors. These mirrors
reflect onto it the facing void and the spiral ramps. Buren attempts for
the interaction with the void of the architecture by emphasizing it. It is
also not the last time artists have attempted to do so.

The critics that once disregarded the museum failed to realise
the potential of the absence. The Guggenheim is designed with a unified
spatial experience which celebrates the openness of space. In such a
case, the museum is designed with void as its programme. The absence
becomes the catalyst where interventions with the works of art are
achieved.
Figure 13: The Eye of the Storm: Works in situ by Daniel Buren
38

Less solid is more void

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Figure 14: Exterior of the Barcelona Pavilion

Figure 15: Interior of the Barcelona Pavilion
39

Barcelona Pavilion

Like many modernist architecture, the pavilion of 1929 is
conceived with an open plan. This allows for the construction of a
continuous space. Long horizontal roof slabs are supported by slender
cruciform shafts. Occasionally, the roof slab projects out onto a pool of
water and into the open sky again. Almost as if you are standing outside
while still under the roof of the pavilion. The glass panes partially frame
the space along the outside of the pavilion and thin onyx walls on the
inside. Bear in mind that the pavilion is designed to be bare. In it there
are no exhibits save a sculptures and few furniture but it is meant to
serve no function. However, no function does not equate as to no reason
why Mies chose to do so.

One first-hand experience of the pavilion helps distinguish
the difference between physical presence and its mental simulation. As
Nicholas Maria Rubio I Tuduri puts it:
It encloses only space. It has no practical purpose, no material function.
They say, It doesnt serve anything.
(Rubi i Tudur, 1929, p.410)

This purpose is much an abstract one as to its practical purpose.
The absences within the architecture are not of visual perception but of
mental stimulation to the beholder. Mies made famous the phrase by the
English poet, Robert Browning: Less is more. (Browning, 1855) But he
himself never clarified the meaning of it in relation to his architecture. It
is often credited in reference to his lack or ornamentation and his skin
and bone architecture. Both in which are presented to use through the
pavilion due to its negation of ornamentation and in its minimalistic
use of material. Mies early education was in a Catholic school. While in
Aachen, his encounter with philosophy brought about his understanding
pf the metaphysics. He begins to look at things beneath what they are.
Perhaps less is more (Browning, 1855) could be interpreted as less
solid, more void.

40


The pavilion encloses almost nothing within it but space.
There are no doors and each room is imperfectly enclosed on three
sides by three walls, more often walls made of glass panes. In some of
these glass walls, they are tinted a sombre, neutral colour. The reflection
of the space in which you see from and the space you see towards are
blended together on its surface. When wandering the space, you are
led into an open room which are courtyards. In it, space is limited only
by three walls and by a horizontal calm pool of water. (Rubi i Tudur,
1929) The division of space has normally been done so by solid, opaque
walls, unforgivingly obstructing any relationship with the opposite
side. Whilst in the pavilion, the glass pane walls act as boundaries
which define the space within. That enclosed space now is independent
of the void outside. Whilst in the Barcelona Pavilion, the use of glass
pane walls not only defines the space but as well as reveal the openness
outside. Subsequently, it allows the outside space to flow through the
pavilion. From entering the pavilion, inside, and leaving it, the space
is experienced as a uniformed, single entity, indifferent to the space
outside. Mies has achieved in blurring the distinction between the inside
and outside space.

The inheritance of manifesting void in architecture can be
seen today. Architecture of various qualities has been designed since
antiquity. The void in St. Peters Cathedral is manifested through the
drama of light and shadows cast by the solids. Meanwhile, the Barcelona
Pavilion and the Guggenheim is not designed with such intent. The
absences are represented in its unification of space. The utilization of the
nature of void results in the architecture of the physical, and the abstract.

41

Figure 16: Early models of the Trs Grande Bibliothque

Figure 17 & 18: Excavated model of the Trs Grande Bibliothque
42

06

Trs Grande Bibliothque

In the summer of 1989, east of Paris near the Peripherique
facing the Siene, is the site of the now Bibliotheque nationale de France.
Then French president, Francois Mitterrand organized an international
competition to design a colossal library of 250,000m2. The brief calls
for a library building which combines five national collections. It is
to house all productions of words, images and sounds in France since
1945. Do note that the brief did not call for a single library. The issue of
distinction and fragmentation was raised at the very beginning of the
venture. It will be a super-library. Housing five national collections, it
will be a composition of five specific libraries, each with their specific
programme. Of the five libraries is a cinematheque, a library for recent
acquisitions such as books, magazines and videos, a reference library, a
catalogue library, and a library for scientific research. These five specific
programmes are conceived of equal importance; the Bibliotheque is as
much a cinema as a library.

We cannot imagine the world we know of today without
knowledge. We crowd ourselves with vast amounts of information every
day, every minute and every second; we learn. With the beginning of the
20th century, is the beginning of the electronics revolution.

43

At the moment when the electronics revolution seems about to melt all
that is solid to eliminate all necessity for concentration and physical
embodiment it seems absurd to imagine the ultimate library.
(Koolhaas and Mau, 1995, p.606)

With the invention of radios, television, and the Internet,
the way in which we interact with information changes. No longer is
information only mediated through books. The library is imagined as
a dream, a utopia. Films, books, music, computers are integrated in a
single information system, in no favour of one over the other. They are
all placed on the same pedestal. This does not mean the end of books,
but an age where all forms of knowledge are seen as equals. It is perhaps
a sense of euphoria in France that the idealization of the scheme is
commendable.

The Office for Metropolitan Architecture, led by Rem Koolhaas
entered the competition. Koolhaas questioned the possibilities of the
project. A project where winning is not much of concern, but a scenario
for the proposal of a new kind of architecture. To him, architecture is
seen as a visual commodity of forms. For it is restricted by its implication
to the eye and also to the technological constrains. Thus, the ambition of
the project is to relieve architecture of its obligations, where architectures
purest form could be manifested. It is in this thought that results in the
realization of symbolic spaces. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995)
The Very Big Library is interpreted as a solid block of information,
a repository of all forms of memory books, laser disks, microfiche,
computers, databases. In this block, the major public spaces are defined as
absences of building, voids carved out of the information solid. Floating
in memory, they are multiple embryos, each with its own technological
placenta.
(Koolhaas and Mau, 1995, p.616)

44


The TGB is a cube, 100m on its height, a solid block of
information. The majority of the library would be filled with the
physicality of information. The focus here is the creation of the absences
where reading, dining and public activities will take place. In the
majority of architecture, the invariable component rests on the solid.
The walls and columns are fixed, it cannot be moved. What are variable
here are the public spaces because spaces have to adapt to the ever
changing needs of its users. Since they are voids carved out of the solid,
the creation of these spaces would be free of architectural implications
of its external envelope. Each space could be designed to suit its needs.
As long as the external boundaries are defined, each individual library
could be arranged without restriction, even disregarding gravity itself.
(Koolhaas and Mau, 1995, p.620)

If the space requires natural lighting, it could be located
close to the external faade. Holes could be carved into it in relation
to the amount of natural lighting needed. If the space requires rooflight, it could be located at the top of the block. The catalogue room
appears on the exterior as a cavity in the faade. Essentially a catalogue
itself, providing panoramic views outwards towards the city. The
cinematheque is proposed on the ground floor as it was speculated to be
the most popular space. Thus, making it more accessible to the public.
At the same time, the reference library is designed as a continuous spiral.
The library will span five floors of partly accessible storage, each with
different themes and subjects. In the building, two void spaces intersect
one another which will form the recent acquisition library. The reading
rooms are laid horizontal while the television and audio spaces slopes
down across towards the river. In the scientific research library, you find
a loop, in which the wall becomes the floor, becomes the ceiling and
becomes the wall again, forming a loop-the-loop.2 (Koolhaas and Mau,
1995) Since each of the libraries are autonomous institutions of their
own, how then are they accessible? Nine elevator shafts form part of the
grid structure for the building. As long as each shaft pierces the void
spaces, the libraries are accessible. As much as it is influenced by the
solids, these public spaces in turn now influence the solids.
2
I have to admit that I have doubts on the conceivability of this space, but the idea here is
the flexibility of spatial creation.

45


Here is one of the early models of the TGB still in development.
It shows the design process where spaces are formed simply by cutting
out the materials. In the real sense, they just have to be not constructed.

Interesting it would be to note if one would actually come to the
same conclusion of design if it were to be designed in the conventional
way. The idea proved to be a complicated one even for Koolhaas which
led him to question it in his diary:
Only anxiety, amid early symptoms of exhilaration: its an idea, we know,
but it is absolutely unclear at this point whether its a good or a bad one.
Model, intended to clarify, prolongs uncertainty
We suspend judgement, it needs time.
(Koolhaas and Mau, 1995, p.636)

The design for the TGB has reached its final stages and an
intermediate critique is held to a group of intellectuals. In this session,
a reverse model of the TGB is presented. The model does not solidify
the solids but the void spaces. The solids are left unconstructed and the
voids made solid, skewered by the shafts, floating in absence. What were
the comments? Perplexed silence.

Were the jury awestruck by the proposition? Or were they left
speechless in disgust as to a madmans idea? Little is known about the
commentary of the session, but it is clear enough to conceive that it is
a radical idea. Firstly, the proposal seems structurally impossible. The
building at 25 storeys would mean that the elevator shafts at the bottom
would have to be massive to structurally support the spaces above.
Instead of an open space, it restricts the flow of space on the ground.
Second, visuals; imagine the nine towers peaking above the Parisian
skyline supporting oddly shaped structures. Third, function; to where
will the vast number of collections is stored?

46

Figure 19 & 20: Void model of the Trs Grande Bibliothque

47


Of course the proposal is not that of the void. In the majority
of architecture have spaces represented by four facades. They merely
represent four out of an infinite quantity of possible cuts. Most of them
immensely more important for the building and its contribution to
the collective architecture. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995) The public are
blinded by the pretence of the architecture where voids are hidden
behind faades. Besides that, it would mean stripping the freedom of the
settlement of space and fall into the notion of function follows form.
Once again, architecture would be poised by the problem of aesthetics,
of construction and the mere repetition of structural blocks.

The building is a composition of spaces: 75% storage, 25%
public spaces. The dark zones however are not solid spaces but storage
which are inaccessible to the inhabitants of the building. These spaces
are rendered useless in the public eye. The remaining absences are
public spaces where interaction with the building occurs. Despite the
primary function of the library is to store information, it is irrational to
focus storage over public spaces. We construct solids. In such a model,
we are attempting in constructing the absence. However, by excavating
voids, the solids are reversibly being defined.

In addition, I myself have pondered on the question of the
cube. Given that the external boundaries of the architecture do not
correspond to the space within, it would seem rather tempting to push
the design of the container to the extreme. There are buildings which are
fluid, formless, deconstructed, even hairy ones too. You must agree that
the cube is not much an interesting form, rather conservative. You could
design a blob in the middle of Paris, for as long as the spatial dimensions
of the libraries are met. Therefore it only seems logical to think that
the objective for Koolhaas does not lie within its physical geometry.
Although as fore mentioned, in the creation of meaningful spaces.

48

A cube. All the deductions have been performed: the building as residue
of process of elimination. We are dealing not with aesthetics here, but with
quantities. We only add and subtract.
(Koolhaas and Mau, 1995, p.636)

49

50

Left to Right:
Figure 21: Level 04, Sound and Moving Image Library
Figure 22: Level 05, Recent Acquisitions Library
Figure 23: Level 11, Reference Lirbary
Figure 24: Level 14, Storage
Figure 25: Level 20, Research Library: Cafe, Lounge, Storage
Figure 26: Sectional Cut

51


As it is obvious today, the OMA did not win the competition.
However, they received an honorary mention for the scheme. The jury
selected two schemes as joint winners in the competition, those by
Future Systems and of Dominique Perrault but was eventually won by
Perrault.

Perrault had in his mind an idea: Une place pour Paris, une
bibliotheque pour la France (a square for Paris, a library for France).
(Perrault and Jacques, 1995, p.46) He composes the project as two
overlapping parts: somewhat an upper city and a lower one. In the upper
part, four towers are designed in the impression of half-opened books.
The towers corner the site, as if delimiting the project area. The towers of
glass and metal are to be the repository of recent acquisitions for items
published since 1945.

In the lower part, the library is organized around a central
courtyard. At the core, an empty space devoid of its solid counterparts.
The space does not bear the realistic function of storing knowledge.
Hence, the empty space is seen architecturally as a large and inaccessible
area. The void space is designed as a tree-planted court with a wooddecked plinth, sort of like an open-air reading room. Given the
permission of the weather, one could then take a book and read outside
in the courtyard. With the courtyard as its core, the cinemas, restaurants
and conference centre would occupy the floor surrounding it as the
most accessible space of the building. Beneath it lays the majority of the
library, limited to scholars and researchers where the preservations of
books since 1470 are kept. The architecture revolves very much on the
requirements of the preservation of books and the interaction between
the public and the private. Perrault set out to introduce Eastern Paris to
a new public space, determined by the possibilities of the void.

52

Figure 27: Trs Grande Bibliothque Concept Sketch, Dominique Perrault Architecture
53


Within the duration of the project, Perrault had often been
criticised on focusing of the design of a place rather than the library
building itself. It is in contradiction to what was proposed in the other
entries with the exception of OMAs. It is injustice to assume that the
architecture is a poorly thought of one. In this case, the design of the
absence is different to Koolhaas approach. The courtyard in Perraults
architecture is the core of the project, allowing the intimate interaction of
architecture with people. While in Koolhaas TGB, the core is centred on
the various public spaces within the building. The use of absences within
the architecture is different in both cases. One in which the absences are
involved in the architectural design of the building (Koolhaas) and the
other in using architecture as the definition of the absence (Perrault).

In an interview between Perrault and Odile Fillion, he
(Perrault) mentioned that the project raised the question on form and
aesthetics. (Perrault and Jacques, 1995) He refers as obsolete notions of
architecture the attention faades, the interior of a building, its exterior,
upper parts, lower parts, entry porch, and the perimeter wall. In that the
expression of forms and cohesion of spaces is inadequate to echo the
times of today. Sound familiar?

Keep in mind that Koolhaas emphasized on the creation of
meaningful spaces as opposed to form. Meaningful spaces as regards
to void spaces. We have seen both uses of the absence within the
architecture. Put aside the architectural differences, that same approach
is carried out by Perraults wanting to create a symbolic space through
architecture.

Neither Perrault nor Koolhaas have chosen to design
architecture purely in the visual realm. Instead, they have chosen to utilize
the qualities of the void. The implication of void in architectural design
is in its flexibility. Spaces could be arranged in countless possibilities in
reference to the programme. Because voids are fundamental to things
happening, it should seem justified to prioritise the absence. In this
design process, the void shapes the solids.

54

Figure 28 & 29: Trs Grande Bibliothque, Dominique Perrault Architecture

55

07

Designing the Absence

Architecture is constructed either through the addition
or subtraction of materials. The added being the physical nature of
architecture itself. Meanwhile, the latter relates more to the art of
sculpting. Materials are added only to be removed later on to achieve
form. A case like such is the Al-Khazneh, in Petra, Jordan. The AlKhazneh is an elaborate temple carved into the sandstone rocks. Like
the TGB by Koolhaas, the interior spaces are extracted through solid. He
or she works with the understanding of what needs to be removed and
not. The designer must understand both solid and void. That being said,
rarely have architects ever design the void or through void. This relates
back to the act of adding lines on paper. It is then questionable if that
void is by design or a product of the design itself?

Designs always begin as drawings from a simple free-hand
sketch, to an architectural rendering or measured drawings. Architects
conceive ideas from nothingness and only through drawings can ideas be
expressed. No examples are needed as the practice of architecture orbits
around it. Architects submit measured drawings for proposals. Students
are taught from the first day to draw plans, sections and elevations.
Drawings are the most pragmatic tool which allows architects to explore
the various ideas within them adding, subtracting, partitioning spaces,
applying materials onto paper before architecture itself. (Schaller, 1997)

56

Figure 30: The Al-Khazneh, Petra, Jordan.

Figure 31: Architectural Details of the Al-Khazneh.
57


Thus, it is important to examine the relationship between
architectural drawings and the realisation of the designs. Remember,
when observing an architectural drawing, it is not so much a drawing
of a building, but a representation of a building. (Schaller, 1997) The
drawings convey the architects intent of the building: the relationship
to its site, the architectural elements, and the creation of positive and
negative spaces.

For example, a house, we see it as an object existing in the
void of space. However, our impression of a house does not consist
only of what is seen but also what is not seen. Through the windows
and doors, we are aware of the existence of the space inside. That it is
the fundamental volume of the object that makes it a house. (Schaller,
1997) An architecture drawing featuring the exterior of a house does
not conceive what a house is. More often, it is used to depict the spatial
relationship of the house as an object to its surrounding context. That is
why you never only see a drawing only of its exterior. It is the interior
drawings that illustrate the void space.

Figure 32: Edited Version of Rubins Vase

3
In light of relative perception, texts becomes solids; becomes void.
58


Before further explanation, here is a drawing. (Fig. 32) The
drawing shows an image of a vase and/or two heads. You may have
realized that both of them are right and no one answer is wrong.
Nonetheless, you will never see both the vase and the heads at the same
time. In the image is proof of relative perception, where perception of
space only occurs in the presence of perceivable things. Solids and voids
define each other yet their definition is arguable. Although the idea here
is of human perception, surely, it would absurd to perceive that the vast
emptiness of space around us to be solid. We presume lines in drawings
to be solid and let us allow such perception for a moment.3


For the architect, he who designs architecture must have an
understanding of space as something beyond just emptiness. Given that
architects use of spatial terms such as the making of space, we can
conclude that he or she does have an understanding of it. As discussed
in Chapter One, drawings are also created upon the addition of lines
onto paper. Lines are drawn; a representation of form and what is not
drawn; void space. Thicker lines represent more form, less space. Curvy
lines, free form, flowing space. Straight lines; simple form, pure space.
Overlapping lines; complex form, layered space. (Till, 2009) Clearly,
there is a correlation between the solid and the void space. Here, spaces
are defined through lines we design. We shape the void. Could it not be
the architects intention, consciously or not, of creating space?

We do not perceive architecture merely as objects, but also
quantifying the non-object, being and non-being. There are times where
line drawings are most communicative. Architectural plans and sections
allow the person to understand the specifics of a building. Despite that,
these drawings lack the ability to mimic human visual perception.
Architecture consistently has to encompass qualities of space such as
light and shadow. (Schaller, 1997) In this case, tonal drawings prove
to be a more communicative medium. To the people constructing the
structure, tonal drawings are not required as to what needs to be build.
Hence, a line drawing is more often aimed as being an instructional
medium. It represents the solid; the foreground for absence to exist. Line
drawings attempt to represent space by defining its boundaries. At the

59

Figure 33: Line Drawing; Barcelona Pavilion.

Figure 34: Tonal Drawing: Repository of Ancient Literature. 4
60

same time, tonal drawings are introduced to represent spatial qualities.

These drawings are an attempt to simulate how one might feel inside a
building. (Schaller, 1997) Solid drawings and void drawings shows
the need to understand the physical and the absence.

When architects draw a line onto paper, he is indirectly shaping
the space in which he aims to create. Lines we see become the container.
In essence, the contained is the architecture. The public cannot be
blamed upon this misconception because the majority of architecture is
experienced by the eyes. Sight is the first and foremost sensory human
trait in experiencing architecture. A passer-by would observe a building
from its exterior long before stepping into it. That is not to say that
architecture should not be aesthetically pleasing. Beyond aesthetics,
facades, windows, materials are all designed as the boundaries of
architecture. It is important to remember that the architects decision
traces back to his aim of designing void. A window is to allow light into
the space. Facades are to create spatial enclosures and materials, can
imbue psychological effects. Architectural physique becomes the tool
of play for the architect. Like the line drawings, there is a correlation
between form and space.

In academics, students training to be an architect understand
the concept through architectural drawings. Apart from producing
line drawings, they also produce atmospheric renders depicting spatial
qualities. Here, a kind of hybrid drawing has emerged; sections and plans
no longer consist only of structure. They also evaluate the invisible. An
absence in the wall would show its effect of light and shadow within
the space it contains. The drawings provide undisputable evidence
the correlation of drawings and architecture; that architects do indeed
design void.
We separate, limit and bring into a human scale part of unlimited space
Gerrit Rietveld, 1975 (Greenhalgh, 1993, p.227)

61


The purpose of architectural elements is to divide the space
into separate entities. The void of space is contained and enclosed within
walls. In which its characteristics are imposed onto by its enclosure. That
space is no longer part of the larger void but an individual void space.
Nonetheless as seen in the case of Barcelona Pavilion, containment needs
not be opaque or perfect for such a space to be defined. Void is intangible
to the architect. What are tangible are the materials. In designing solids,
we design voids. In return, voids and solids define architecture.


Architects need to possess the ability to consider both voids
and solids simultaneously in their designs. The void is fundamental to
architectural design. We define absence through designing solids hence,
we shape the void. Evidently, architects have an understanding of solids
although not consciously on voids. It may be the case as to why the
absence is rarely given priority in architectural design. This dissertation
hopes to question and enlighten architects and students on the matter
of void. No longer is architecture only defined by solids alone. With that
comes an architecture of equal appreciation of visuals and the abstract.

4
An architecture students drawing depicting depth of shadows. Solids influence shadows. It
influences space.

62

63

08

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Figure 16: Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), (n.d.). Sketch Model
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eu/20150820164350-1492-9rdo/700.jpg [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016].
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eu/20150820164359-1496-nbyr/700.jpg [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016].
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Figure 26: Office for Metropolitan Architecture, (n.d.). Section A-A. [image]
Available at: http://images.oma.eu/20150820165905-877-53mj/700.jpg [Accessed 25 Jan. 2016].
Figure 27: Dominique Perrault Architecture, (n.d.). National Library of France
Concept Sketch. [image] Available at: http://www.perraultarchitecture.com/
data/projet/fiche/2264/large_bnf_cq_dp_003_retouche_web_8ae15.jpg [Accessed 24 Jan. 2016].
Figure 28: Dominique Perrault Architecture, (n.d.). National Library of
France. [image] Available at: http://www.perraultarchitecture.com/data/projet/fiche/1465/large_bnf_1995-ext_gf_129_web_33864.jpg [Accessed 24 Jan.
2016].
Figure 29: Dominique Perrault Architecture, (n.d.). National Library of
France. [image] Available at: http://www.perraultarchitecture.com/data/projet/
fiche/2264/large_bnf_0000-ext_gf_02_web_787d9.jpg [Accessed 24 Jan. 2016].
Figure 30: Sture, F. (2014). Al-Khazneh, Petra, Jordan. [image] Available at:
http://francis1ari.deviantart.com/art/Al-khazneh-Petra-Jordan-446623562
[Accessed 24 Jan. 2016].
Figure 31: Architectural Details of the Al-Khazneh. (n.d.). [image] Available at:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2049/1887577279_fa8ddc01e7.jpg [Accessed 24
Jan. 2016].
Figure 32: Smithson, J. (2006). Edited version of Rubin's Vase. [image] Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Rubin2.jpg
[Accessed 24 Jan. 2016].
Figure 33: Fundaci Mies Van Der Rohe, (2000). Drawings of the Barcelona Pavilion. [image] Available at: http://miesbcn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/planol-planta.pdf [Accessed 24 Jan. 2016].
Figure 34: [Authors own image]

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